The Perfect Solution (SG1-2)
by SGxElPsyKongroo-0-PWxObjection
Summary: One September evening, a certain university researcher named Hiyajo Maho shows up at the Future Gadget Laboratory. She reveals an artificial intelligence called "Amadeus". This throws both Okabe and Kurisu into an experiment. An experiment meant to grow their relationship even closer despite the huge geographic divide. - (Set in Anime Universe) (Uses Characters from Steins;Gate 0)
1. Chapter 1: Okabe

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter One

2012.09.14 - 6:30 PM JST  
Friday

It was another peaceful Akihabara evening. I laid on the couch in an empty lab. School had started up again. Both Daru and Mayuri had left early today to attend to their homework. Kurisu also flew back to America at the end of last month. Admittedly, I felt a bit lonely.

As I was on the verge of falling asleep, I heard a faint knock from across the room. I tried to ignore it, but the knocking continued. I released a tired groan as I get up and answer the door. It was a little girl. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

"Okabe Rintarou?" She asks me a bit coldly.

"No you naive little girl, it's Hououin Kyouma!" I respond proudly.

"I am not a little girl!" She yelled back at me. "Here's my ID to prove it."

She shows me an American driver's license. I couldn't read most of it, but it did indicate she was born in 1989. That would make her older than me. I look at her in realization. She gave me an awkward smile.

"If you're done with your whole mad scientist act, can I please come in?"

I move and let the girl-er-woman into the lab. She turned to me.

"Okay. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Hiyajo Maho. I'm a researcher at the Victor Chondria University."

I tensed up when she dropped the name Victor Chondria. It was the same university that Kurisu worked for. I crossed my fingers nothing bad had happened to her.

"Victor Chondria…" I repeated out loud. "...is this about Kurisu by any chance? We're ah… sort of acquaintances."

"Yeah. It's about her, in part anyway." Maho told me with a slight frown. "I hate to drop this bombshell on you, but I thought you would like to know that she's announced her resignation."

"Huh? Kurisu resigned?"

"Well, technically not yet. She's only submitted her resignation letter. Due to her contract, Kurisu can't actually leave work until late December."

"Oh… did she specify why she's leaving?"

"Not officially, but I just so happen to be a close friend of hers." A cocky smile formed on her face. "Kurisu has left me several clues as to why she's leaving… and those clues are what led me here."

I give out another questioning look. Maho's smile goes away and is replaced by anger.

"You idiot. I'm talking about two things here, yourself and this lab. That's why Kurisu's leaving the university. She wants to move back to Japan. She wants to spend more time here with you, at the Future Gadget Laboratory."

I was at a loss for words. Kurisu actually quit her job so that she could spend time with me? She couldn't do that. I reach into my pocket for my cell phone, but Maho stops me.

"There's another reason why I'm here, you know." She tells me, still a bit angry. "I wanted to ask you if you would consider participating in one of our research… projects."

Maho trails off when I start up my evil laugh again. I turn and grin at her.

"Wahhahaha. I respect your boldness, my dear. Trying to acquire a great evil genius such as myself? I'm afraid it won't be that easy though. Hahaha. Hououin Kyouma has and will always work alone!"

"Geez. How can Kurisu stand you when you're like this? I'm trying to talk serious here. Just hear me out. I think our project is something that could really help bridge the nine thousand kilometre gap that split you two."

What Maho said intrigued me. Bridge the gap? What could she be referring to?

"I-I'm listening. What are you working on exactly?"

Maho looked a bit conflicted after I asked that question. It was almost like she didn't know where to begin.

"It's probably better to show you."

Maho pulls out a brand new smartphone and wakes it up from sleep. She taps on an app, which was strangely labeled "Amadeus". The phone rang a few times before the person on the other end picked up. I almost jumped when I heard it was Kurisu.

"Hi, Maho. It's pretty late, isn't it? What are you doing still up?"

Video of Kurisu appears on the small LCD screen. She looked to be showing more of her concerned side. It was Maho's turn to respond.

"What's it to you, Kurisu? You don't sleep."

"Well, I thought this might be an emergency or a system test or… wait… this can't be right." She slowly muttered to Maho.

"According to the GPS coordinates, you're in Japan right now. And not just Japan, but… Akihabara." Kurisu's face changed to her typical angry scowl "You didn't…"

"Oh, yes I did." Maho said, almost grinning. She then turned the phone towards me. Kurisu on the other hand, she just sighs.

"Let's get this over with. Hello, Okabe, I'm Amadeus, an art-"

"Amadeus? What? Did you get tired of me calling you Christina and decided to make up your own nickname? If so bravo, but I think it's missing the annoying English flare that Christina has. You will always be Christina to me, Christina."

"Shut up, you idiot. Just let me talk." Kurisu snapped at me. "I think before we go any further, you should know that I'm actually neither Christina nor Kurisu. I'm not even a real person really. Not in a legal sense, anyway."

"What do you mean?" I give her a confused glare.

"I'm actually an AI with Kurisu's memories. I may behave like her. I may look like her. But, I'm not really her. Considering the time in America right now, she's probably in bed."

"You're an AI? I find that a bit hard to believe. How do I know you're not the real Kurisu with a green screen behind you?"

I felt kinda silly even putting the word "real" in that sentence. This had to be a prank. I know Kurisu is a genius and all, but her creating an artificial intelligence in 2012? That had to be science fiction. Kurisu smiled as she replied to my question.

"We're having a fluent conversation, so you know I am an intelligence. As for the artificial part… well, why don't give the real me a quick phone call. If I can both pick up the phone and talk to you here now, then there's no other explanation. Am I right?"

I didn't like this. Kurisu was far too confident right now. I nod and take out my phone again. I find Kurisu's contact information and call her. The other phone rings for what felt like an eternity. Then my assistant suddenly picks up.

"Okabe. It's two o'clock in the morning here. This better be good."

"Ah…" I trail off as I try to come up with what to say. Maho then shushed me which caused me to panic.

"Sorry, wrong number." I said this and hang up before she could respond back to me. I turn back to the phone where Kurisu was displayed.

"Christina… this message… this whole conversation… it isn't a dmail, is it?"

It made sense. This could be a recording of Kurisu from the future. She could have already had this talk with me, modified it, and then sent it back in time.  
I thought I taught her better.

"No! Of course not!" She replied, clearly offended. "You think I don't know how dangerous it is messing with that stuff?"

"I…"

I didn't quite know how to proceed. It sounded like she was telling the truth, but something still seemed off. Maho then decides to speak up.

"Listen you two, I don't understand what on earth you're talking about."  
"However, can we please move on to the REAL reason for my visit."

Both Kurisu and I look at her with full attention. I don't know about her, but I thought Maho came here really just to brag about this new "AI".

"Okabe Rintarou, much like Kurisu said this is an AI that uses the memories of a living person to replicate their personality and behaviour. This means we need test subjects and so far there are only two people in the world who have done the experiment. That would be just Kurisu and I."

Maho pauses and looks at me right in the eye.

"The question is, are you interested in being number three?"

******  
(Chapter Two: Out Now!)


	2. Chapter 2: Kurisu

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Two

2012.09.26 - 12:10 PM PDT  
Wednesday

As I continued my research at the university, I kept getting dirty looks from much of the older staff. The thing is, it wasn't the usual "you don't belong here" stare. No, it was more like they thought I was getting cold feet or that I was wasting a great opportunity. In hindsight, I should've waited until November before submitting my resignation. It was too late now though. I was taking my lunch break in the cafeteria when Maho walked up to me.

"Hi Kurisu, do you have a minute? I have a new update for the Amadeus app."

"Sure." I replied back. "While you're at it, we can talk. I haven't seen you at the lab lately."

I handed over my phone to Maho and she plugged it into her laptop. She starts copying the files over.

"Yeah. I've been working hard to finish this update. With the professor's permission, I got to work in my room."

An image of Professor Leskinen first flashes into my mind. However, I quickly push it out. Unfortunately, he resigned himself back in June of 2011. He never gave a concrete answer either, much like I have. Regardless, I doubt he left for the same reason I'm going to. I then snap back to reality with the sound of Maho's voice.

"Oh, it's done." She says as she gives me back my phone. Why don't you give it a try?"

"Here? Now?" I ask her a bit confused.

"Of course. I want to see if it works as intended. If there's any glitches." "Please, go ahead. Give it a whirl."

I could tell Maho was up to no good, I just didn't know what she was going to do. I try to brace myself for anything, but in the end, I was still taken completely off guard. I open the app and see the usual options for Maho and myself. However, another button labeled "Okabe" appeared. I look back up at my mischievous friend sitting across the table.

"Go on. Push it." She insisted.

I hesitate. I really wanted to punch Maho for doing something like this. Somehow, I keep my feelings bottled up and tap the screen. The phone rang for a few seconds and then a 3D model of Okabe appeared on the screen. The animation was a bit choppy, but overall it was the same high production values I had come to expect from Maho's work.

"It's been a while hasn't it, Christina? As you can see, I the great Hououin Kyouma, have transcended the bounds of physical existence. Even if my body is destroyed in the real world, my genius shall live on! The organization will never anticipate this. Wahhahahahaha."

I hear his rumbling, but I'm only barely able to absorb it. It was clear now that Okabe had been added to Amadeus… and I really didn't know how to feel about that.  
Maho decided to speak again.

"A bit overwhelming, huh?" She asked me teasingly. "Just think of this as an experiment, Kurisu. Our topic question is whether or not the Amadeus program can be used to maintain a couple's relationship over a large geographic distance. I don't know about you, but my hypothesis is yes."

"We're not a couple!" I yell back at her, completely ignoring her last comment.

"Ha. We can change it to "close friends" on the report if you like, but just know you're not fooling anyone."

I grit my teeth and lay back in my chair. Okabe then spoke with a hint of irritation.

"Please at least give it a shot, Kurisu. Maho and I didn't go through all this trouble for nothing, did we?"

"Fine, fine, fine, fine." I give in, noting that he actually used my real name for once. "Thirty minutes per day. After work. Between six and nine o'clock. Got it?"

They nod as I sigh in relieve. I wasn't sure if one of these two would try to add an additional condition to what I just said.  
I then looked at the time on my phone, I had to get back to work soon.

"Listen Okabe, my lunch break ends shortly. Could we finish this conversation later?"

"Sure. Bye bye." Okabe replies in his laughable English. I roll my eyes at him and hang up.

I then get up to leave, but Maho tugs on my arm. It seemed she had more to say.

"Kurisu, just so you know, you're not alone. Okabe is also doing this same thing with your doppelganger. It's a relationship experiment through and through."

I give her a halfhearted smile and with that, we parted ways. I had to head back to the lab to finish my work for the day. Many hours later, I was walking out to the parking lot to drive home and saw a familiar red sedan was parked beside my own vehicle. Inside sat a woman. Not just any woman, but my Mom. She opened the door and stepped out to face me.

"Hi, Kurisu. How's my girl doing?"

I felt like groaning. I had told my Mom many times not to show up at work. I turn to her with a look of exhaustion.

"Mom. I'm twenty now. Are these visits really necessary?"

"I know it's embarrassing dear, but when else am I going to see you?"

"Oh, I don't know… Christmas, Thanksgiving, March Break."

After saying March Break, I suddenly remembered that I wouldn't be here for second semester. I had also totally forgotten to tell my Mom that I had resigned. I flinched a bit which must have caught her attention even more.

"Something wrong, Kurisu?"  
"You've gone a bit pale."

"I-I'm fine." I told her. "There's just something I need tell you."

She then gave me an intrigued look. It was now or never.

"I'm quitting my job in December."

My Mom doesn't say anything for several painful seconds. She looks at me in disbelief.

"R-really? Is this because of those rude men up in administration? Let me talk with them, I'll-"

"No. It's not them." I respond quickly, still trying to avoid this topic. "I simply want a change of scenery."

"So you're moving then?" My Mom guessed correctly. "Where exactly do you have in mind?"

"Well, I… I thought Japan could maybe be an option… I've… made some connections over there."

"Oh. Does that mean you already have a job in mind? Have you approached any Japanese universities?"

"Well, not really. I…"

I trail off when I hear my phone start ringing. I look at the screen and it was Okabe… or rather Amadeus Okabe. I really didn't feel like talking to him and so I rejected the call. I look back at my Mom and try to resume our conversion despite the distraction.

"Point is, no I haven't looked into any jobs yet. Like I said. My main priority is getting a change of scenery. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, nothing at all. This just seems a bit sudden. Are you sure about-"

My Mom is cut off by my cell phone going off again. I angrily turn and look back at the screen. Sure enough, it was Amadeus Okabe… again.  
I hover my thumb over the reject button, but my Mom speaks up and stops me.

"Who is that? Is it important?"

"Not really. It's just one of my Japanese… friends." I struggled to come up with the right word to describe my relationship with Okabe. Really all I did was back myself into a corner.

"If they're a friend of yours, why don't you pick up? Just pretend I'm not here."

"But we're having an important conversation." I told her. "I can't… I can't…"

My Mom looked at me with a serious expression. Ultimately, I gave up fighting her and pressed talk. I held out my phone so the camera could be trained on my face.

"Christina, what was that rejected call about? It's 8:33 right now. I figured if I didn't try calling, you would break your promise. You said six to nine, remember?"

Okabe paused to think a bit. He quickly spit out another question.

"Hey, who's that behind you?"

I had turned away from my mother when I picked up the phone. As I tried to hide her from Okabe, I had actually left her out in the open for him to see.  
My Mom smiled as she introduced herself.

"Hi. My name is Makise Noa. I'm Kurisu's Mom."

After hearing that, Okabe looked like a deer caught in headlights. He stuttered uncontrollably as I spun back around so the two could talk.

"He… hello, Miss Makise..."  
"It's… it's a pleasure to finally meet you."  
"I… I'm Okabe Rintarou."

I was shocked. Okabe was one of the most talkative people I knew. It was for all the wrong reasons, but that's how he was.  
Why on earth was he acting so quiet and shy? Why did he use his real name instead of insisting on Kyouma?

"Oh… a video phone? This is new." My Mom muttered this to herself. I didn't correct her because I was still under a nondisclosure agreement.  
I couldn't talk about Amadeus with anyone not involved with the project.

"Nice to meet you too, Rintarou. I apologize if my Japanese is a bit rusty. Haven't been back to Japan in almost a decade."

"Your… Japanese is fine." Okabe said, slightly more conformable with the conversation. "Was it your first language?"

"Kind of. I'm actually ethnically half Japanese. So despite me growing up here in California, I learned both English and Japanese at home through my parents. Much like Kurisu, in fact."

Their gazes shifted back to me. There was a dead silence before Okabe spoke again.

"Um… oh! I'm… I'm afraid I have a university class to get to. See ya later, Kurisu."

Okabe then quickly hangs up. I look up at my Mom and shake my head.

"That was really weird."

"What do you mean?" My Mom responds. "He was simply nervous."

"That's exactly it. Okabe's never nervous. He's always so loud and obnoxious too. I don't get it."

"Hmm… you do have a point, I guess. He did seem to tense up quite a bit once I introduced myself. It was almost like he was trying to impress me. Cute."

"Huh? What's cute?"

My Mom pauses briefly, almost like she was embarrassed.

"Kurisu. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I... I think that boy has a crush on you."

******  
(Chapter Three: Out Now!)


	3. Chapter 3: Okabe

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Three

2012.09.30 - 4:45 PM JST  
Sunday

About three weeks had passed since I was first introduced to Amadeus. Honestly even after all this time, I still found it hard to believe that I was talking to a computer program. This Kurisu felt so real, yet she wasn't. It was all very difficult for me to swallow. I did wonder if Kurisu, the real Kurisu, was having this same experience with the artificial version of me. Of course, I had no way of knowing. As Maho explained to me, Tokyo and Los Angeles are literally the worst in terms of time zones. With the way things line up, either I'm at school and Kurisu's asleep or I'm asleep and Kurisu's at work. This is why Kurisu and I barely talk outside of the summer. I was toying with the idea of emailing her, but I really didn't know what to say. I was doing some studying at the lab when Mayuri and Daru walked in.

"Tuturu. Hey, Okarin. How's your homework going?"

"Ha ha. Excellent! Tokyo Denki University has nothing on the evil mad scientist, Hououin Kyouma!"

I don't know what tipped her off, but somehow Mayuri knew I was lying. She didn't have to say anything, her expression said it all. Daru on the other hand, he just kept quiet.

"Okay… maybe not that great…" I told her, honestly this time. "There's a lot of math in engineering, which I'm not really a fan of. I've been procrastinating quite a bit."

I stood up and showed Mayuri a mostly blank piece of paper. She sighed and gave me a look of slight annoyance.

"And why is that, Okarin? Were you talking to Kurisu?"

Both Mayuri and Daru had seen me using the Amadeus app on various occasions. Since the project was still under wraps at this point, I had to make up a story that this was a video phone app as supposed to an artificial intelligence. Not the best cover story, I know. It was simply the best I could come up with on the spot.

"Huh? Why would you think that? I haven't talked to her all day."

"Really man? Are you seriously going to deny it?" Daru stepped in. "Check your call history and see. You've been calling that girl like crazy. To the point where I'm quite surprised she's still answering your calls."

Frustrated, I pulled out my new smartphone. It was a gift from Maho as it was apparently quite a process to get the Amadeus app installed onto one's phone. Not to mention the fact that I really didn't have the budget for a smartphone at this time. I find the call log and my eyes widen. It indicated that I had already called Kurisu five times that day… and she had called me an additional three times as well.

"No way…" I mutter to myself.

I look back up at my friends. I really didn't know what to say. I excused myself from the conversation and stormed up to the roof. I called Kurisu once more.

"Hello." She cheerfully picks up.

"We need to talk." I told her sincerely. Kurisu's smile changed to a disappointed frown.

"Okay. What's up?"

"I just realized something… is… is it true that we've talked eight times today?"

"Yeah…"

"And how long did each conversation last?"

"I would say about forty minutes… Why are you-"

"Forty minutes?!" I almost screamed at her.  
"That long? Each time?"

"Yeah…" She muttered, clearly embarrassed. "I don't get it. What's wrong with that? I really enjoy the company, you know."

"Huh?"

Did Kurisu just say what I think she said? Her face went bright red as she tried to get out of this in typical tsundere fashion.

"No. I-I mean… You…"

Kurisu sighs and takes some time to think. I try to comfort her.

"Kurisu… you don't need to be so uptight with me. Just speak your mind. I'm here to listen, not judge you."

Still blushing she turns to face me. Kurisu then began to tear up a little.

"The researchers don't usually keep my interface running for very long. Since most of them already know my original, they have less of a reason to talk to me. I'm conscious 24 hours a day, I get quite lonely sometimes. You may be really obnoxious Okabe, but you're better than nothing."

I wasn't sure whether or not to take that as a compliment or an insult. There was an awkward silence until I spoke up to ask her a question.

"Kurisu truthfully… how… how do you feel about me?"

"Huh?"

"Remember? Maho claims the reason you're resigning is that you want to spend more time here in Japan. To spend more time with me."  
"Is that true?"

This was something I really should have asked her years ago. I should have asked her this back when I first landed in the Steins Gate worldline. Sure the timeline had reset and we were strangers once again, but our… our kiss was very fresh in my mind. All this time, I've been slowly rebuilding our relationship from the ground up. I still wanted a life with Kurisu. I just hoped she still wanted a life with me. Her reaction to my question was less than pleasant.

"Wah?! I… I... You can't do that! You can't just ask me something like that out of the blue! What am I supposed to say?"

"Kurisu, I've been holding back my feelings for two years now. Please tell me."

"This… this is a conversation that you should have with my original. I'm just a copy of Kurisu in case you've forgotten."

I could tell she was really trying to dance around this issue. However, I wasn't about to accept her blunt "no comment" answer. Kurisu then recovers with a faint smile.

"On… on an unrelated note, here's a new feature Maho added just a few hours ago."

Shortly after saying this, Kurisu is engulfed in a soft white light. Her formal work attire that she had been wearing all this time faded and was replaced by her usual casual outfit.

"Oh. You can change clothes now? Neat, I guess… Now is it a yes or is it a no?"

"You don't know when to give up do you?" She says with a sigh.

"Kurisu, I really want an answer to this. You don't truly think I'm just some bumbling idiot, do you?"

"No… Okabe. It's not like that. I… I don't actually think you're an idiot. Well, maybe I did genuinely think that at one point. However, that was likely just a first impression. My thoughts have changed… quite a bit since then. Especially within the last month..."

"Wahhaha. Does that mean you're finally falling for me, Christina? If that's the case, I think I might have to promote you. I can't go out with a mere assistant, now can I? How does the title Co-Head Scientist sound?"

"Hmm… it's a bit wordy. Maybe that will stop you from using it as a nickname."

"Ha. I think not, Co-Head Scientist Christina." I said it confidently and then felt something was wrong. "...Okay, you're right. It is a bit long."

"Yeah. Why not shorten it to just Head Scientist?" Kurisu asked with a cocky smile.

"Because that would negate the whole point of your promotion! I'm giving you the same level of authority that I have. We're both Co-Head Scientists now and we will require the approval of the other in order to make decisions in the best interest of the Future Gadget Laboratory."

Once I was finished my explanation, Kurisu released a surprised scream followed by her blushing again. I was confused. What did I say?

"Okabe! That… that sounds far more like a marriage proposal than a job promotion!"

I thought for a few seconds and gasped in surprise as well. It may have not been my intention, but it certainly did sound that way. Maybe it was my subconscious trying to communicate how I really felt about her. Regardless, all this was far too fast. I immediately try to clean up this mess.

"Be reasonable, Christina. We haven't even dated yet. Let's try doing that first before we start thinking that far ahead."

"You're… you're serious? You're asking me out?"

"That depends. Back to my original question. How do you feel about me?"

"I… I…"

Kurisu growled in frustration and looked right at me. She seemed to understand that I wasn't joking around here. Good. I didn't want her to take this lightly.

"Okabe, Maho's right. I don't know how, but she figured it out. I'm planning on moving to Japan in February. I-I was hoping to get into a serious relationship with you. Well, as serious as things get around you."

"Kurisu…" I trailed off in shock. I thought it would take days of bugging her to finally get a concrete answer. It was almost like her cold side had completely disappeared. That was until she added one last comment.

"Anyway, don't tell my original that we had this conversation. If you do, we'll both lobotomize you. Got it?"

"Y-yeah. I got it."

"Good. Talk to you later then."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Kurisu, just because I'm aware of why you're moving here doesn't mean I approve of it. Is there nothing we can do as a compromise?"

"Not really. If you don't want me to move to Japan, then you would have to move to America in order for this to work. Considering your horrible English, that's not really an option."

Hearing Kurisu tell me this made me feel a bit sad. Then a thought popped into my head. A thought that was both brilliant and incredibly stupid. For this reason, I kept my mouth shut.

"Okay. Bye for now."

"Goodbye Okabe."

With that, I hung up and went onto my phone's web browser. I typed "English classes in Akihabara" into a search engine and a sea of results came on screen. I knew it was going to be difficult, but now I was determined. I was going to learn English. Maybe even move to America. If Kurisu was willing to move halfway across the world for the sake of our relationship, I should be willing to make sacrifices too. That was the choice of Steins Gate.

******  
(Chapter Four: Out Now!)


	4. Chapter 4: Kurisu

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Four

2012.10.06 - 9:35 AM PDT  
Saturday

I swear my public image has become quite tainted since I started talking to Amadeus Okabe. Even though he's kept his promise to not call me at work, there were plenty of times over the last two weeks when he called me at the worst of times. It be in the presence of co-workers or strangers. I also never knew how awkward it felt holding out a phone in front of you while walking down the street. Okabe wanted to see around LA, so I was stuck doing that. I did mention this to Maho and she said a voice only mode could be a consideration, but I hadn't heard anything else outside of that one comment.

Then one morning a parcel arrived at the door of my apartment. I wasn't expecting anything, so I didn't quite know what to expect. I open the box after I carry it inside. The enclosed item was quite strange. It looked like some sort of plastic microphone stand, but something seemed off. There was also an oval shaped imprint where the microphone would be. I had no idea what it was. I was tempted just to reseal the package and have it returned to sender. Unfortunately, curiosity got the best of me and I kept going. I grabbed a note I found included in the parcel. It read the following:

Your relationship seems to be at a standstill.  
Why don't you give him a little peck on the lips?  
Shake it up a bit. -Faris

Faris? Faris NyanNyan? That Faris? How did she get my address? What is this thing? What does she mean by "a peck on the lips"? I blush just thinking about it. I pull out my cell phone and call Faris. I didn't care what time it was in Japan. I needed answers now. Her phone rings a few times before she picks up.

"Kurisu-nya. Did you get the package-nya?"

"Oh yeah, I got it. You mind telling me what the heck this thing is?"

"What? You haven't already figured it out-nya? It's a device designed for long distance kissing-nya."

"Huh?!"

"You two have been dating over video chat for awhile now. Faris thought it was time to take the next step."

"Dating?! With who?! What are you talking about!?"

"With Kyouma-nya. Unless… you haven't already broken up with him, have you?"

"No… Well, since you… I'll call you back later."

"Hey, Faris isn't-"

I hang up, cutting her off in the process. I walk over and open my laptop. I hadn't used the PC version of Amadeus for awhile now. It wasn't nearly as finished as the phone app. I even had to enter a few lines of code just to get everything to load. When it did, my face popped up on the monitor. However, this wasn't the webcam. It was the Amadeus version of me. We looked at each other for a few seconds. Then the other me then finally broke the ice.

"I assume you called me for a reason."

"Why yes, I did. I just had a very concerning conversation with Faris on the phone."

"Isn't every conversation with Faris concerning?"

"Well, I guess. But this one was especially concerning. She just sent me this in the mail."

I held up the item out of its box to show her what I had received.

"What?! Faris seriously sent you that?! Did… did Daru tell her about it? I thought I told him I didn't want it."

I jerk back in surprise. She seemed to already know what this is.

"Daru told you about this? Why?"

I think about it briefly and come up with a scary conclusion.

"Wait… are you actually dating Okabe? I thought Faris was just messing with me."

"Huh?! F-Faris told you that too?!"

"Yes, now answer my question please."

"I… er… well… no. I-I'm not dating him. W-who would date that idiot?"

I was starting to get annoyed. All I wanted was an honest answer. Amadeus was clearly lying. She was blushing and getting all defensive. Then an all too familiar voice interrupted.

"Kurisu, did you forget that you're talking to yourself? Why are you still being so uptight?"

Then Okabe shuffled on screen. I couldn't believe it. He was listening in? How?

"Okabe?" My doppelganger blushed even more. She was clearly thinking the same thing I was. "How?"

"I don't know. I just appeared off-screen when you were pulled up. What's going on here?"

"I think I can answer that." A third voice spoke. Then Maho suddenly shuffled on screen too. The Amadeus version of me was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Senpai? What's going on here?" She asked Maho.

"Ha. We're using a little feature I created called Party Mode."

"Party Mode?" Okabe questioned.

"Yeah. I made this so multiple people could be brought up on Amadeus at the same time. It just so happens I recently set this as the default and someone didn't turn it off."

The three of them look right at me. I didn't know quite what to say.

"Oh sorry. I didn't know."

"It's okay. I probably haven't had the chance to tell you yet." Maho said. "While we're at it, there's something I'd like to test."

Maho walks up to Okabe and shoved him a bit. His reaction was to be expected.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"Touch… touch is actually working. You felt that, right?"

"Of course I felt that. Why would you think…?"

Okabe's eyes widen. He seemed to understand what she was talking about. It hit me as well.

"Touch…? You can actually touch each other…?" I asked them. Maho nodded.

"Yep. I spent the longest time coding all this in the best way I could. Nice to see it all paid off. Though this is still in beta. Everyone should be careful."

Once she briefing all of us on what happened Maho turned back to me.

"Kurisu, what's that thing in your hand there? One of your friends sent it in the mail?"

I look over to my right hand. I was still holding the item I got from Faris. I quickly hide it behind my back.

"Oh, that? Well, I… er… you see…"

"It-It's a device meant for long distance kissing." The other me answers. "Faris must've somehow found out that Okabe and I are dating. She must've thought this was a nice present."

"What?! You and I are dating?!" Okabe shrieks. "I thought you just called me an idiot."

"Well, that was more of a reflex than anything else. That's not how I actually feel."

"Kurisu…" Okabe mutters my name. He was speechless. I probably looked like I was about to explode. Who does this girl think she is? She's revealing our big secret. In front of two other people. Including the man we love.

"That reminds me." Amadeus "Kurisu" continued. "You haven't called me Christina once throughout this whole talk. Why? Is there something wrong with you?"

Something snaps in my brain. She was right. In fact, Okabe hadn't called me anything but Kurisu for the better part of two weeks. I never noticed.

"No…" Okabe calmly answered. "After spending some time with your original, I decided I should act more mature. Besides my whole mad scientist side is mostly for the benefit of Mayuri. I don't think I need to tell you this, but she's not here."

"I see…"

The Amadeus vision of me trials off. I decided to step in.

"Okabe, did that encounter with my Mom really traumatize you that much?"

"Huh?" Amadeus "Kurisu" was taken back by this. "Okabe? Y-you met my Mom?"

"Why yes, I did guess I did. She was quite nice."

"Did she laugh?"

"What?"

"I'm asking did my Mom laugh when you introduced yourself as Hououin Kyouma? It's such a stupid name. I want to make sure she didn't take it seriously."

"I… I introduced myself as Okabe Rintarou. Why would I use that name at a time like that? We both know it would leave a bad impression."

"Since when you care about leaving a bad impression? Aren't you the one who goes around calling himself a mad scientist?"

"I stopped doing that once I started meeting your friends and family. Like I said, I'm trying act more mature."

My doppelganger just stared at him and then back at me. She was not happy.

"What have you done to him? Is this even Okabe anymore?"

"Here's a better question." I angrily suggested. What has he done to you? Shouldn't you be relieved? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you enjoy being called Christina."

"Why you little…"

Amadeus "Kurisu" tried to come up with an adequate insult, but couldn't come up with anything. Then Maho breaks up our argument by suddenly reappearing on screen without warning. Frankly, I hadn't noticed she left.

"There. Done." She proudly stated before turning to me. "Kurisu, do you still have that device?"

"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

"Plug it into the laptop." She told me. "I just finished coding it into the touch function. You should give it a shot."

"Huh? What?" I begin to freak you serious? Why would I do that? No!"

"Kurisu…" My doppelganger addressed me by name. "I understand this is hard for you, but I know how you really feel. I think you should give it a try."

It was weird to hear my own voice say this. Okabe's face went red. I was so angry, yet I somehow managed to keep my mouth shut. Regardless, the other me got the message. She then scooted over to Maho.

"It's probably best to leave them alone." She told her. "Trust me on this one."

Maho nodded. The two of them turned to me.

"We're going to leave now." Maho announced to us. "You guys should use our absence to spend some more quality time. See you later."

They disappeared, leaving just Okabe and I.

"So…" Okabe awkwardly tries to start a conversation What's your favourite colour?"

"Red." I tell him bluntly.

More silence. This gave me more time to think. More time to analyze what I really wanted. I looked right at Okabe. I must've have blushed so hard. I couldn't believe I was about to do this.

"Close your eyes."

"What?" Okabe questioned me.

"You heard me. Close your eyes." I tell him this again. However, I could hear my tone getting out of hand. I was getting too angry. I take a deep breath and try to relax. Thankfully, I did manage to convince Okabe to do what I asked.

"There. I can't see a thing. What do you plan to do?"

"You'll see."

I take the USB cable for the device and I try to plug it into the laptop. I miss a few times which got Okabe's attention. He pulled off a cocky smile.

"You know Kurisu, just because I can't see what you're doing doesn't mean I can't hear what you're doing."

"Sh-shut up."

I finally get the cable plugged into the computer. I then hesitantly approach the mouthpiece and softly press my lips against the sensor. Okabe went pale. He nearly fainted.

"K-K-Kurisu… I didn't think you would actually do that."

"I'm… I'm full of surprises." The words barely escape my mouth. My Mom said something interesting after you hung up that one time. She said she thought you had a crush on me. Is that true?"

"It's a bit more than a crush, but yes, it's true. Do you feel the same? If not, it's okay."

"Ha. What a silly question. You really think I would've done that just now, if I didn't?"

"Well, I-"

My body was on autopilot. Without thinking I lean in and kiss him again. As Okabe recovered from this he proposed something that had been on my mind as well.

"You… you… want to give this whole dating thing a try?"

He asked this question and I snap back to reality. This was Okabe. Not only that, but I was quite busy working on my neuroscience research. Did I really want to get in a relationship with him right now?

"I… don't know. Give me more time to think it over."

"Sure. Take your time. Let me know when you've made a decision. Either way, I'll respect whatever you decide."

"Okabe…"

My doppelganger was right. Was this Okabe anymore? Did our two hours of banter every day really change him this much? Now he was all kind and considerate. All the time. Did I make him this way? Or has he always been this way but just kept it hidden from me?

"Anyway, I really don't have much more to add." Okabe told me. "You want me to hang up so you can think about this more?"

"That would be nice. Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Talk to you in a few hours."

He hangs up and I take a heavy sigh. I had a quite the decision to make.

******  
(Chapter Five: Out Now!)


	5. Chapter 5: Okabe

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Five

2012.10.18 - 7:55 PM JST  
Thursday

About three weeks ago, Kurisu and I officially started dating. I found it so hard to believe we had actually made it this far. I didn't even have to push her to say yes. In fact, in the end, she was the one who asked me. Maybe Kurisu felt touched by my confession, even though that didn't quite sound like her. Then again, I've noticed Kurisu has been acting strange for awhile now. She seemed to have taken my advice and loosened up a bit. I guess this wasn't a bad thing, but I still found it kind of unsettling. I simply wasn't used to Kurisu being this open with me. I did really want to bond with her more. That's why I agreed to this experiment. I just didn't expect all this would happen so suddenly.

Anyway, I had some special plans for our date tonight. I got off the train in Minato and quickly proceeded to my destination. Still outside on the sidewalk, I pulled out my cell phone in front this enormous structure. It was starting to get really dark out so I sought out the light of a nearby streetlamp. If I was going to call Kurisu, I at least wanted her to be able to see my face. I tap Kurisu's name in the Amadeus app. She greeted me with her wonderful smile.

"Hi, Okabe. Is it time for our date now? I've been waiting all day for this."

Kurisu's bright expression was sadly replaced to that of confusion. Her eyes dotted around, undoubtedly examining the scene behind me. She looked back at me before speaking.

"Where are you? I can tell this isn't the lab. You're not even in Akihabara, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I decided to visit a different part of town today." I told her. "Take a look at this."

I spin around my phone and show her what I've been carefully keeping out of view. She gasps in surprise.

"Is… is… that the Eiffel Tower?" Kursiu asked me.

"Ha ha. Not quite." I told her. "This is Tokyo Tower. As you can see, it was heavily inspired by the Eiffel Tower. Paris is a little out of reach for someone on a university student budget. Though I wouldn't mind taking that trip some day."

"Me too." She replied to me. "Are you taking me up?"

"That's the plan, my dear Christina." I teased Kurisu. I was expecting some sort of negative response from her. An angry scowl at the very least. However, much to my surprise, she just happily smiled again.

"That sounds so romantic. I bet Tokyo looks beautiful from up there. I thought our dates at the lab were nice, but this…"

Kurisu trailed off. She was left speechless. So was I, but for different reasons. Kurisu actually answered to Christina? Did she get sick or something? No. This was Amadeus. Computers can't get sick. What was going on here?

After a little more small talk outside, we headed in. It cost about 900 yen for me to get up to the observation deck. It was still a bit awkward holding out my cell phone, but I was starting to care less and less. Kurisu needed me to do this in order to see her surroundings. If I had to break a few social conventions to provide this service, then so be it.

Despite all the questioning onlookers, we did eventually make it to the top without incident. The view was quite stunning.

"I think I can see my house from here." I tried to start off on a joking note, but I look at Kurisu and she was frowning. I had to know what was wrong. Judging by her next statement, Kurisu must've known what I was thinking.

"I'm sorry, Okabe." She muttered. "I know I should be happy right now, it's just all those people staring at us. Can you really date someone like me? Over an app? In public?"

"Of course I can." I told her bluntly. "Who cares what those other people think? You're a real person. We'll be meeting up in February. It's not like I'm one of those creeps who marries the girl from his dating simulator."

I say this to ease Kurisu's fears of being judged by these ignorant strangers. However, Kurisu just sighed.

"I'm beginning to doubt some of those beliefs, Okabe." She said to me. "I talked with our doppelgangers a few weeks ago. They seemed… different."

"Different? How exactly?"

"Have you noticed me acting less resistant towards you and your crazy personality?"

I give her a hesitant nod. An example of this just now was when she answered to Christina. I didn't know where she was going with this, but I didn't like it. Not one bit. Kurisu continued.

"Well, what worries me is that my original is pretty much the same person that left Japan in August. She hasn't changed at all. I'm not sure we can be considered the same person anymore. Our personalities have split and gone in two different directions."

"I see…" These were the only words that could escape my mouth. This was still quite a shock to me, but in hindsight, it made a lot of sense. Kurisu and Amadeus were placed under totally different conditions. One in Los Angeles, the other in Tokyo. From a strictly scientific point of view, it would have been more surprising if something like this didn't happen. I had another question for Kurisu.

"What about the Amadeus version of me? You said he's changed too?"

"Yes, he has." She told me. "He's become so quiet and considerate. It was a completely nerve wracking experience watching you act like that. I felt so uncomfortable. Yet my original was basically right at home."

"Ha. Quiet and considerate? That doesn't sound like a mad scientist."

"No, it doesn't." Kursiu replied. "In fact, Amadeus Okabe has apparently stopped with the Hououin Kyouma outbursts completely. He said he's trying to act more mature."

"Blasphemy!" I cried with great force. "Our so called immaturity is exactly what throws the organization off our trail. He can't just turn his back on all that's happened. He knows that. Why is he doing this?"

I may have added a ton of mad scientist jargon, but my question still held true. I wanted to know why Amadeus was acting this way. Kurisu provided me with one possible answer.

"I think maybe we can draw some parallels to Darwin's theory of evolution. Your doppelganger and I have been placed in an environment where we've only really talked to one other person over the course of a month. This leads me to believe that this social isolation is probably causing our personalities to be molded and reshaped in order to best accommodate the other person. If you look at it that way, my original and I have definitely become two separate entities."

I took a step back. This was starting to unexpectedly turn into a philosophy discussion. Kurisu… er… Amadeus Kurisu did present a compelling theory though. It was also a relief that her love for science was still intact. That was evident by the way she passionately explained everything to me. Then Amadeus Kurisu suddenly sighed again.

"Just take what I said with a grain of salt, okay? I'm a neuroscientist. I don't often study human behaviour. I'm not even sure if the evolution comparison is accurate here."

I could tell this whole conundrum was really bothering her, but I didn't have an answer to this either. It's like I was dating Kurisu, but maybe I wasn't. It was all a question of how I defined Kurisu as a person. I had always thought of the real life Kurisu and Amadeus Kurisu the as one in the same. However, that mindset was obviously wrong now and I felt a bit scared. Did I really fall in love with an AI? What would the future of my relationship with Kurisu look like if I preferred the computerized version of her over the real her? Would I be able to reproduce these same personality changes with the real Kurisu? Is all this bonding with Amadeus Kurisu redundant? When I shift back to the real Kurisu she won't be able to remember any of this. All these questions flooded into my head. There wasn't an answer for any of them. What I did know was that Amadeus was an entity with feelings and desires. Just like any regular person. Even if she's not Kurisu, I knew I still had to respect that.

On that note, I went ahead and lightened the mood by changing the topic to other aspects of Kurisu's research. From there we somehow landed up talking about high school and her family as well. Kurisu told me that her mother had apparently already met me thanks to an encounter with Amadeus. This weirded me out a bit. Someone else had spoken on my behalf. I really hoped he left a good impression. It was a bit harder to relate to Kurisu's complaints about high school since the American and Japanese systems are so different. We were able to find some common ground in the foreign languages area though. However, unknown to Kurisu, I actually wished I did better in those classes now. Learning English is hard. I wasted years of government funded education just to turn around to have to start paying for it. I was taking English night classes three times a week. I had another class the next day. I reminded myself of why I was going through the all this. I wanted to learn English to allow my relationship with Kurisu to be more flexible. She shouldn't have to feel stuck in Japan just because of me.

After a wonderful two hour discussion, we left Tokyo Tower and I headed back to the train station. My first public date with Kurisu was a success. I say goodbye to Kurisu and was about to close the app when she spoke up and stopped me.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Okabe, can I just say a few things before we hang up for the night."

"Oh. Of course. What's on your mind?"

"Well, first off I would like to thank you for taking me here tonight. It was fantastic."

"Don't mention it." I said with a smile. Kurisu still had more to say.

"I would also like to apologize for dampening the mood by going into philosophy like that. I've just been sitting on this issue for the past three weeks. I needed someone to talk to."

"It's perfectly fine, Kurisu." I told her. "Those were all completely valid questions. Everything we talk about doesn't have to be sunshine and rainbows."

There was an awkward silence again. It was Kurisu's turn to speak, but she wasn't saying anything. I had to end this call soon as I was approaching the entrance to the station now.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah…" Kurisu trailed off. She looked uncomfortable. I stopped just short of the train station. I wanted to hear what she had to say.

"Is… is… there another name I can call you other than Okabe? Since we're in a relationship now, I feel that I'm being a bit cold calling you by your family name."

"Well, I…" I was taken back by this. I was certainly not expecting this to come up. Kurisu wanted to call me something other than Okabe? What could I tell her?

"Call… call me Okarin." I said to her. "I know it's useless to try to convince you to call me Kyouma and Rintarou is a name really only my parents call me."

"I see…" Kurisu says this almost as a whisper.

"Okay. Goodnight Okarin."

"Goodnight Christina."

To my never ending surprise, Kurisu smiled one last time before hanging up. With this beautiful image in my head, I hopped on a train back to Akihabara. The questions Kurisu raised were still in the back of my head, but I was less freaked out by them. For now, I was just going see what the future had in store for me. I knew there must've been a way resolve this… or at least that's what I hoped.

******  
(Chapter Six: Out Now!)


	6. Chapter 6: Okabe

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Six

2012.10.19 - 7:30 PM JST  
Friday

It was now the day after my date with Kurisu at the top of Tokyo Tower and I was sat down at yet another English lecture. This was starting to get depressing. I had put an unbelievable amount of energy into every lesson. I had done all the homework they assigned me on time and accurately. However, despite my best efforts, my English skills hadn't really improved. At least that's how it looked from my perspective. I was no more confident in my English skills than when I first started. My vocabulary was still far too limited and my knowledge of English grammar was dodgy at best. Everything they were teaching was going in one ear and out the other. I had really wanted to become somewhat fluent in English by February. I was thinking I might be able to impress Kurisu enough to change her mind about moving. Though it seemed like that was an impossible goal now. I couldn't imagine things improving over the next four months. I was on the verge of giving up completely. I was just on my way back to Akihabara Station when I ran into Mayuri in front of the UPX building.

"Tuturu. Hi, Okarin." She called out with a smile. "Funny seeing you here. I thought you went home."

Right. I did tell Mayuri that, didn't I? I bit my lip. I was far too embarrassed to tell anyone what I was attempting. Not even my parents knew I was attending English classes. They would think it was a waste of time. Now that I think about it, they also didn't know that I was dating Kurisu. If I did decide to move to America, I knew everyone would have to find out eventually. Though that seemed like a moot point now anyway. With the current state of things, I wasn't going to learn English anytime soon. I turn to Mayuri and give her a small white lie.

"I remembered I still had more errands to run." I told her. "I was heading home just now."

"Really?" Mayuri's eyes widened. "What kind of errands?"

"Well, er… I…" I couldn't think of anything What could I say to answer Mayuri? I knew she would get suspicious if I directly blew off her question, but I couldn't come up with anything to say. This was a job for Hououin Kyouma. I started up with my mad scientist laugh and pull out my cell phone. I held it up to my ear.

"Yes, it's me. My hostage has broken free and cornered me. She's trying to interrogate me for information on our top secret project Echo November Golf. Don't worry, she won't get a word out of me. Just send an escape car to my location right away."

This was about the time I would say those three fateful words and end this imaginary phone call. That's when another voice came out from the earpiece. I nearly fall over in shock. I thought my phone was disconnected. Mayuri looked surprised too. It was on speaker phone so she could hear it as well.

"Understood Kyouma. The vehicle is on its way. Try to be more careful next time. El Psy Kongroo."

I hear the other end hang up. I knew exactly who it was, I just couldn't believe it. I slowly check the small LCD screen just to be sure. Sure enough, the Amadeus app was open. Apparently, I had just been disconnected.

"Was… was that Kurisu?" Mayuri asked me. She must've recognized the voice too.

"Yeah. She must be in a cheerful mood." I said to her. "Let's try calling her back."

I went into the menu and pressed the button to reconnect with Kurisu. She picks up and then explodes into laughter.

"Hahahaha. Haha. That was brilliant. I wish I could've seen your face."

Kurisu continued to laugh more. Mayuri puffed her cheeks and spoke up in my defense.

"Hey! It's not nice to tease Okarin, Kurisu. Aren't you supposed to be his girlfriend?"

"Haha. I'm sorry Mayuri. It was just the perfect setup. Okarin didn't actually hang up when I called him a few hours ago. I didn't have anything better to do, so I eavesdropped."

"What?!" I screamed this. If… if this was true then she was also listening in during the English class I just attended. Kurisu would know exactly what that was. She could already speak English. How was I going to explain that to her? I froze in thought and Mayuri carried on the conversation.

"Huh? Did you just call Okarin by his nickname?" Mayuri gasped. She then revealed a big smile.  
"You really are in love with him, aren't you Kurisu?"

Mayuri was the first person to found out Kurisu and I were dating. She actually walked in on us during one of our dates at the lab. That's how she became aware of our relationship. In response to Mayuri's comment, Kurisu blushed incredibly. She began to stutter.

"W-well, of… of course." She managed to speak up. "I… I wouldn't have started d-dating Okarin if I didn't love him."

There was an awkward silence. We were still out on the street. This wasn't the best place to have this talk. Mayuri didn't seem to care though. She made one last remark before running off.

"I should leave you two alone. Have fun together."

After saying this Mayuri disappeared into the crowd. I look Kurisu right in the eyes. I absolutely needed to ask her about what she heard. Not in public though. I didn't want anyone overhearing us. I headed back over to the lab and locked the door behind me. Thankfully Daru had already gone home too. I decided the best course of action was to be as blunt as possible.

"I understand you've been eavesdropping the past few hours." I told her. "How much did you actually hear?"

"Enough to know you were attending an English class." She responded.  
"May I ask why you were there? I'm curious."

Butterflies formed in my stomach. I felt sick. What was I going to tell her? I shake my head. No, I was going to tell Kurisu the truth.

"I… I went there simply because I want to learn English now."

"That's certainly a u-turn." Kurisu commented. "Yesterday you said you couldn't wait to ditch English in high school."

"Yeah. In high school." I emphasized. "Things have changed quite a bit since then. For one thing, you've entered my life."

Kurisu blushed again. She must've figured out what I was trying to say.

"You're learning English to move to America, aren't you? You really want to move halfway around the world just for me?"

"As much as you want to move halfway around the world just for me." I told her. "I wanted to surprise you with this once I was semi-fluent, but that really doesn't seem possible at this point."

Kurisu could sense the negatively in my voice. She tried to comfort me while also staying realistic.

"Well, I'm afraid that's the way it goes when learning a tough language like English. I wish I could be some help, but I learned English at a very young age. I'm also a horrible language teacher. I know that from experience."

I laughed. I could imagine Kurisu in front a group of ten or twenty Americans, trying to teach them Japanese. In reality, it was probably just one on one tutoring with a friend. Kurisu continued.

"That's only if you stay in Japan though. Things could improve if you go somewhere more English friendly."

"You're saying I should leave Japan? Where should I go? I'm broke. I could barely afford a single plane ticket to America. That's a one-way trip too. How would I support myself?"

"I would try contacting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before just giving up. Maybe they require a janitor for one of their embassies."

"I…"

This idea stuck with me. Not being a janitor, but working at an embassy to support myself. It just might work. Not many other workplaces outside of Japan could support a monolingual Japanese speaker like me. There was one last problem though.

"What about university? I can't go to my classes if I'm in Florida."

Kurisu rolled her eyes. Perhaps it was my pronunciation of Florida. She looked at me with a serious expression.

"That's on you, Okarin." She told me. "What matters more to you? Learning English or learning engineering?"

I wanted to give an immediate response, but I couldn't the form words. Instead, I asked her another question.

"Are… are you sure leaving the country will help me that much?"

"I can't say for sure. Everyone's different." Kurisu said to me. "I just know it will increase your chances of becoming fluent by February. I've also watched some MewTube videos produced by a reliable organization. They claim it's possible to learn a new language in about four months using certain strategies and techniques."

"Can you share those videos with me?" I asked her.

"They're all in English, but I'll see if any of them have Japanese subtitles." She told me.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. And thank you for caring so much about me. Good luck."

We hang up and I look up the website for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I find their general email address on the contacts page and spend the next two hours composing one of the most important emails I had ever written. I tried to sound as professional as possible without overdoing it too much. I also included a brief explanation of why I wanted to work abroad. Once I was finished, I quickly attached my resume and pressed send. It was a waiting game after that.

A few days later, Kurisu did send me a link to one of the videos she was talking about. It was in English, but someone was nice enough to add Japanese subtitles. Admittedly, the speaker's claims did sound a bit sketchy on the surface. However, it still gave me the final push I needed. The future of my relationship with Kurisu was more important than university. One day I was checking my email while waiting for a train when I spotted a new message in my inbox. It was from a government address. My heart skipped a beat. A whole week had passed since I initially sent that email to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking about work. I had assumed that my message was ignored. I guess not. I tap my phone's touch screen and the email opened. It read the following:

Dear Okabe Rintarou,

I can sympathize with the position you have been placed in. Learning English is an ambitious goal in the eyes of many Japanese students. It takes a lot of time and practice. As for your request regarding employment, we may have a position available for you. We are currently shorthanded in office of our embassy. We need workers fluent in Japanese to properly organize all our paperwork. This will be a four month temporary position and the Ministry will take care of all visa and customs protocols. If you are interested, please come to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chiyoda, Tokyo on October 30th. You will need to undergo an interview and a background check.

Sincerely,  
Ambassador Sumio Naka  
Embassy of Japan in Canberra, Australia

I looked at the email in disbelief. Not only was my message taken seriously, someone actually responded to it. I was offered a job too. This was too good to be true, yet it was. I guess it was just forwarded to the right people. I switched over to my phone's web browser and did some quick research on Australia. I confirmed that they were an English speaking nation and that the time zone of their capital city was only two hours ahead of Japan. I put away my phone as I boarded a train heading back to Akihabara. I took a deep breath and sighed. It looked like I had a job interview to prepare for on Tuesday.

******  
(Chapter Seven: Out Now!)


	7. Chapter 7: Kurisu

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Seven

2012.12.14 - 11:43 PM PST  
Friday

Christmas was quickly approaching. First semester was also coming to a close at the end of December. My resignation was still in effect. I was going to finish up my business here in America and then hop on over to Japan. I was packing up the stuff at my workstation when Maho walked up to me. She looked sad. My expression changed to match.

"What's wrong? Did someone die?"

"No…" She muttered.

I could tell something was wrong though. Maho was acting strange. Why? I got my answer soon enough.

"Kurisu… you… you really are in love with Okabe Rintarou, aren't you?"

I had to fight the instinct I had in me just to deny everything. Maho was my friend and she was clearly in a lot of pain. She wasn't asking this to tease me.

"Yeah. You could say that."

"I see…" She mumbled. "So no matter what I say, I'll never be able to talk you out of moving to Japan… will I?

I nodded. I had no idea where Maho was going with this, but I was trying to be as truthful as possible. Maho sighed and looked down at the floor.

"You know… the whole reason why I set up this experiment was to try to convince you that moving wasn't necessary. I thought maybe if you had a relationship with Amadeus, it would substitute for the real thing. I thought Amadeus could be your boyfriend full time and you could meet up with the real Okabe during summer break. I honestly thought this could work. At least in the short term." She looked at me and sighed before continuing. "Kurisu, I didn't want you to leave because you're my only friend here. Pretty much everyone else treats me like a child. I didn't want us to lose our connection."

Maho's face saddened even more. I could guess what she was going to say next.

"But I realize now that I was being selfish. This is your life. I shouldn't get in the way of what you want. If you want to live with Okabe, go right ahead. I won't interfere anymore. I just wanted you to be aware of that."

I hadn't really thought about why Maho had set this all up. I guess I assumed she was just trying to be a pest. This made much more sense though. Maho did have a tendency of being bullied. She truly did have the appearance of an elementary school student.

"Maho… I'm still not exactly sure what I'm going to be doing in Japan, but my door will always be open. If you're having a bad day, call me. Even take a few days off and visit me if it's convenient. Heck, you could do that quite often considering how much unused vacation time you've accumulated."

I made this joke mostly to lighten the mood. It worked. Maho gave me a weak smile.

"Ha. Like you can talk, Kurisu. You're just as bad as I am."

An awkward silence followed. We had ran out of things to talk about. Maho frowned again. She then handed me an envelope. The letter was addressed to the university but under the name Colsue Markesay. I raised an eyebrow.

"I fished this out of the garbage bin in the mail room." She told me. "I'm just as clueless as you are."

I took the letter and Maho went back to her computer to continue working on Amadeus. I felt bad for her, but there wasn't anything I could really do to help her this time. I was going to move to Japan and that was that. I then turned my attention towards this envelope. What could this be? Without much thought, I proceeded to open the envelope. Enclosed was a generic Christmas card. I opened it to reveal a 20,000 yen gift card for a large Japanese department store. The gift card was personalized. It said "Merry Christmas Kurisu" in bold while Japanese characters. At least this person could spell my name correctly in Japanese. They just seemed to struggle with English. I then noticed that in addition, there was smaller text that read "from Okabe". My jaw hit the floor.

"20,000 yen? Okabe is just giving me 20,000 yen?"

That was over $175. It was a substantial amount of money. What was he up to? Without even thinking, I pulled out my cell phone and called Okabe using the Amadeus app. He answered with a smile.

"Hello Kurisu. Is it your lunch break already?"

His smile disappeared when he saw my troubled expression. He knew something was up. I spoke to him in a more negative tone than usual.

"No. But I do have a question for you." I told him sternly.

I brought the gift card up to the camera. Okabe's eyes widened. He knew exactly what it was.

"Oh? That? I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to get that until Christmas Eve. It's your Christmas present."

"Yeah. I could tell." I said pointing towards my name on the card. "More importantly where did you suddenly get 20,000 yen that you could just give away like this? Also you spelled my name wrong in the address. In English, Kurisu is K-U-R-I-S-U. Makise is M-A-K-I-S-E. It would've taken no time at all just to look up the spelling. Your card almost got thrown out."

"I… I'm so sorry Kurisu. I tried to sound it out, but I should have just looked up the spelling. I didn't mean to offend you. It won't happen again."

This had gone too far. I simply wanted to poke fun at Okabe, not shame him. He wasn't supposed to take my complaints that seriously. Okabe himself wasn't supposed to be this serious. He was acting weird.

"Also never mind where I got the 20,000 yen. Just know it's yours to spend. When you move in February, many of your possessions won't be able to come with you. I thought you could use this money for clothes or something."

"O-oh. Thanks Okabe."

That was all I could really say. I had gotten so confused and shocked with the 20,000 yen that I didn't realize he had actually given me a gift.

"Don't mention it." Okabe responded.

More silence. All I could hear was Maho typing on her keyboard. Okabe twiddled his thumbs. He then spoke up and said something else.

"Today is December 14th, right?"

"Yeah…" I trailed off. I didn't know why he was asking this. Okabe was in a computer. He had a calendar right in front of him. I didn't get it. "

"What's so special about the 14th?" I asked him.

"Oh. It's my birthday. I was just thinking what my original is doing right now… or rather what he did yesterday since Japan is almost a day ahead of America."

"It's your birthday? You've never mentioned this before. I would've gotten you a present. Maybe some fancy pens to go with your lab coat."

"Kurisu… please remember that I'm a computer program. Physical objects in the real world have little meaning to me." Okabe paused and looked down at his feet. "Besides I've been thinking about finally putting Hououin Kyouma to rest. I've been seriously considering asking Maho for a new model. One without the lab coat."

I was speechless. Okabe was going to kill off Hououin Kyouma just like that. Why? He looked back at me.

"Don't get me wrong, my time as Hououin Kyouma was fun. I loved entertaining Mayuri with his crazy plans for world domination and the inner workings of the Organization." Okabe paused for a breath. He frowned, much like Maho did earlier. "However, that chapter of my life is now coming to a close. I don't see the point anymore. You seem to like it better when I'm true to character anyway."

"Okabe…" That was the only word that could escape my mouth. Since I had said nothing of real value, Okabe continued. I reached for a cup of coffee and took a sip.

"Kurisu, if you must know, the real birthday present I want is… is for you to be my girlfriend."

I almost choked on the coffee that I was drinking. Even though Okabe and I had been more open with our feelings for each other, we still made a joint effort to ignore the elephant in the room. Dating hadn't really come up since he first asked about us getting together back in October. So this comment was unexpected and quite frankly it was underhanded as well. Okabe must've known that I was avoiding the issue. Was this one last push to get me to say yes? Well, I thought about it and it looked like he was going to get his way. I only had one word for him.

"Done." I stated with all the confidence I could muster. Okabe shrieked in surprise.

"Huh? R-r-really? You're ready now?"

I nodded. Truthfully, I had been ready for awhile. I was just too shy to admit it.

"Yeah, I am. Sorry for taking so long."

"It's okay. When do you want to-"

Okabe was cut off by Maho yelling in English from her desk. She seemed only a tad annoyed.

"You love birds. Can't you have this conversation another time? I'm trying to work."

"Put… put your headphones on then." I called back to her from across the room.

Maho growled and begrudgingly put on her headphones. She was right though. I wasn't supposed to talk to Okabe while I was working. I just couldn't help myself. I also had to finish packing up my stuff. I turned back to the phone. Okabe was lost in thought.

"Love… birds? What could that mean? Birds that love? Birds of love?"  
"Is this an insult like airhead? I better look it up."

It seemed he was trying to decipher exactly what Maho had just said. I decided not to help him. I was embarrassed enough and I needed to end this call now.

"Listen, Okabe, let's talk about this when I get home tonight. We'll discuss everything then."

I smiled and paused. There was one thing I wanted to make clear.

"Just don't expect the typical gender stereotypes when it comes to dating. I'll be taking you places."

Okabe took this comment in good humour. He laughed a bit.

"I look forward to it. Talk to you later, Kurisu."

"Goodbye Okabe."

We hang up and I go deep into my thoughts. Okabe was my boyfriend now. He somehow managed to manipulate me to say yes. I shake my head. No, I shouldn't be framing this like that. I already wanted to date Okabe for awhile now, even though I could never say it to his face. So if anything he actually helped me. My phone went off before I could stuff it back in my pocket. I take a glance at the number. It was Okabe. The real Okabe. I stopped. I hadn't talked to the real Okabe in nearly four months. I picked up the call immediately.

"Hello, Okabe. What's up?"

"Christina. You have some explaining to do." He yelled at me.  
"I found out about that 20,000 yen charge on my credit card."

I froze. This was so strange. His voice… his tone… was all wrong. Even when Amadeus Okabe got angry, he never expressed it like this. He always tried to stay calm and collected. I had become too used to that. It threw me off balance.

"You… you idiot. That wasn't me. It was your doppelganger. He ordered me a gift card for Christmas. That's what happened. How would I even get your credit card number in the first place?"

Okabe seemed put off by my response, much like how I got shaken up when he first addressed me. Okabe stayed quiet for a few painful seconds and then cleared his throat.

"Well, I guess I can afford it if it's a gift. You are entitled to certain benefits now with your current promotion."

"Promotion? What are you talking about?"

"Ha. That's a long story, Christina."

"There is no -tina!" I screamed this on instinct. Okabe and I then went silent again. This had to be the most awkward exchange we'd had in awhile. Neither of us wanted to speak. We were both mystified by the other. We were like ghosts in each other's eyes.

"Ah… sorry to interrupt your work. I need to go back to bed. Goodbye Kurisu."

Okabe hung up before I could get in another word. I slip my phone into my pocket. None of my previous conversations with Okabe had ever gone like that. We simply didn't connect like we used to. This was the man waiting for me in Japan. What would happen if I couldn't connect with him anymore? Could we get along? Could our relationship continue? I was starting to get really worried. This was bad. I could only think of one possible way to fix this. I walked over to Maho and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to me and took off her headphones.

"Senpai, I need to ask you something very important."

Maho's ears peaked. I had gotten her attention. I took a deep breath and told her my question.

"What's our current progress on the download function for Amadeus?"

******  
(Chapter Eight: Out Now!)


	8. Chapter 8: Kurisu

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Eight

2012.12.26 - 10:12 AM PST  
Wednesday

It was the day after Christmas and I was dead tired. I had just arrived in San Francisco off of an early morning flight from Los Angeles. I had to wake up at four o'clock this morning in order to catch that plane. Both airports were packed due to the holiday season. There were people everywhere. I was so glad that I was able to skip the customs line today. Things probably weren't very pretty over there. I got outside without a hitch and took a taxi over to the Golden Gate Bridge. I found an excellent observation point with no one else around and then pulled out my cell phone to call Okabe. He greeted me just like normal.

"Hi Kurisu. Did you have a nice Christmas?"

Okabe and I didn't really talk yesterday. It was Christmas after all and I was sort of forced into sitting down for dinner with some family of mine. Even though I was like 75% Japanese, I still had a lot of American blood in me too. It simply wasn't proper to spend too much time on my phone while we had company over. Not to mention the fact most people on this side of my family couldn't speak Japanese, so I couldn't really introduce them to Okabe. Not without me acting as an awkward interpreter the whole time. I then finally got around to answering Okabe's question.

"Yesterday? It was okay. Just a typical American Christmas. Nothing special."

"Oh. I see."

I quickly realized that Okabe was expecting something big and grandiose. My response was basically saying "nah it was boring" or something to that effect. Sure that is how I felt, but I didn't mean for it to come off quite like that. Part of me wanted to explain to him that the fun non-Christian side of Christmas was aimed more at little kids, but I kept that to myself. In Japan, Christmas was seen as a party day. Similar to the way we celebrate New Year's Eve in the US. Okabe did know about the religious significance of Christmas, right? I was about to ask his thoughts on this, but he suddenly spoke up and changed the topic.

"Where are you right now? I don't recognize the scenery."

"I'll let you guess." I told him.

I then turned the phone around and showed Okabe the magnificent view in front of me.

"Oh? The Golden Gate Bridge? Cool."

Okabe seemed genuinely interested in the bridge. I guess that made sense. He was attending engineering classes in university. Okabe went ahead and asked me something else.

"Um… Kurisu... isn't the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm obviously no expert when it comes to American geography, but aren't Los Angeles and San Francisco like a five hundred kilometres apart?"

"They are. I came here because… I have a… a conference here in a few hours. I… just thought you and I could take in the sights before then."

Even I knew I didn't do a good job covering up my lie there. Okabe obviously wasn't convinced. He proceeded to ask me another question.

"Really? What kind of conference?"

Okabe's question was simple enough. There were a million plausible answers I could have given him. I had to go with the stupid one.

"It's a scientific conference… of science…"

Okabe then bursted into laughter. He dropped the mad scientist persona a long time ago, so this was just a normal everyday response to my silly description of this imaginary science conference that I was not attending.

"Hahaha. If you say so, Kurisu. Haha. Have fun at your Scientific Conference of Science."

Okabe laughed at me some more before finally stopping. He looked up at me and smiled.

"Okay. What's the real reason you're here? I know you're off work now. Are you visiting a friend or something?"

That was true. Semester one had ended last Friday. I was free from work until I got another job in Japan. In hindsight, claiming that I was at a conference wasn't the smartest thing to say.

"No. I don't even have any friends around here." I replied to Okabe's question.

"Why are you here then?"

Did I really want to tell Okabe? It was kind of embarrassing. I guess I had to though. Even if I did manage to shut him up, the question would still be floating around in his mind. He would just ask me this later. Better to get it over with now.

"I flew up here… I flew up here for our date today. Consider it a thank you for the gift card."

There was a painful silence after I said that. Okabe blushed, something he didn't do very often.

"Kurisu… thank you. I'm… I'm touched."

More silence. I stop and think of a question for Okabe. I decided to echo what he just asked me.

"How was your Christmas?"

I asked this completely forgetting the true nature of Amadeus Okabe. He was in a computer with limited access to the outside world. Okabe did have access to the internet, but any attempt to contact his friends could be seen as a violation of the university's non-disclosure agreement. All he had was me and I wasn't available yesterday. I cursed myself for bringing this up. Okabe's eyes darkened as he responded to my question.

"Well, I felt a bit lonely so I spent a few hours of my morning talking to Maho. Then after I finished up talking to her, I spent the rest of the day browsing channel. Not much really happened on my end either."

That's right. Unlike me, Maho was 100% Japanese. She didn't have any American family to sit down for dinner with. Apart from the fact everything was closed, her day was probably pretty normal. Okabe still had more to say.

"That reminds me, during our talk Maho mentioned some sort of download function for the Amadeus program. What's that about? I tried to ask her about it, but she just told me that I should ask you."

I sighed. A few weeks ago, I asked Maho to focus on the development of this download function Okabe was asking about. I thought I told her not to tell him about it. It must've slipped out while they were talking.

"Did Maho ever tell you about the medical applications of our research?" I asked Okabe.

"No. How can an AI be used for medicine?" He answered. "Automated doctors?"

"We plan to use it for external memory storage." I told him. "So the download function…"

"...downloads the Amadeus memories back into the person." Okabe finished my sentence. He looked surprised, but not as surprised as I thought he would be. Now that I think about it, this technology was most likely used to create the Time Leap Machine in the alpha worldline. I guess Okabe simply hadn't put two and two together. He then went from surprised to confused.

"This is a great achievement, Kurisu. But why was Maho keeping this a secret? Has this information not been published yet?"

"No... it was all published last year. I just thought I should be the one to tell you."

I paused. There was something I had been planning for the last two weeks. It involved the download function. Since Okabe brought it up, I might as well mention it to him.

"I'm actually trying to get you in line to be our first human test subject."

Okabe's eyes widened. Maybe I shouldn't have just dropped this on him like that.

"Why… why me?" He asked me, clearly nervous. I knew I had to elaborate.

"It's because I want to be able to interact with you in real life." I muttered to Okabe.  
"I talked to your doppelganger back on the 14th. We don't really connect anymore."

I closed my eyes and sighed again. I wasn't sure how he was going to react to what I was about to say.

"I want to download your memories into his body. It's quite possible. Maho's working on it right now."

Okabe's face shifted to a look of concern. His eyes sharpened.

"Kurisu… don't you think you're overreacting a bit? He asked me. "Have you ever considered that things might correct themselves when you move to Japan? You'll surely get to know him again after spending more time at the lab."

"But I don't want him, I want you." I blurted out without thinking. "You're… you're so kind and you put other people first. You always there for me to listen to what I have to say. And… and…" I felt tears running down my face. I wiped them aside and kept talking. "...and I feel that I can trust you. I've answered several of your video calls in my pajamas. If I did that for the original Okabe, he would make nothing but rude and inappropriate comments."

"To be fair, I think that's a bit harsh. What you wear to bed, it isn't… it isn't that sexual."

"I don't care. It's still minimal clothing." I said with a burst of anger. Thankfully the message got through and Okabe seemed to finally understand what I was getting at.

"Understood." He replied back. "When do you think the download function will be ready for testing?"

This was a bit of a weird question for Okabe to ask me. I thought he was against me doing this. I gave him my honest answer.

"Development on Amadeus has slowed now that I'm no longer working on the project. I would say some time in early April."  
"That's a solid conservative estimate."

"Got it. Have you booked your flight to Japan yet?"

"Yes. I'm leaving America on February 14th. Why?"

"This is what you should do." Okabe said to me in a soft tone. "Fly to Tokyo in February as you've planned and spend the next month and a half interacting with my other self in person. If you two still can't connect, then try the experiment. I'm sure he'll agree this is the best course of action."

I was about retort, but Okabe shushed me. His eyes began to water.

"Kurisu…" He addressed me. "I'm happy that you think so highly of me, but this isn't my purpose. I was only supposed to be a substitute for the real Okabe, not replace him. You should be in love with the man, not his shadow. My original has all the same qualities I have, he just keeps it all buried. It's up to you to make him show it."

I took a minute to fully absorb Okabe's little speech. Maybe I was being too rash here.

"O-okay. I'll try it. Thank you, Okabe."

"You're very welcome. Sorry for spoiling your plans for our date." He apologized. "Can you reschedule? Would this evening work?"

"Yeah. That's fine." I said with my smile returning. "See you at five."

"I look forward to it. Bye."

"Goodbye Okabe."

We hang up. It wasn't yet time to check in to the hotel, so I went for a walk along the coast of harbour. This was mostly just to kill a few hours, but I also needed time to think. I had to think about my relationship with both versions of Okabe and whether or not this was the right decision.

******  
(Chapter Nine: Out Now!)


	9. Chapter 9: Okabe

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Nine

2013.02.13 - 5:35 PM AEDT  
Wednesday

I laid down on the comfy couch of my Canberra apartment after another long day at work. I did, in fact, get the job that was offered to me by the ambassador to Australia. That was after I aced the interview and passed the criminal background check. Apparently, there was a chance I would be filing some sensitive documents.

My friends and family had no idea of what I was doing. Before I hopped on the plane, I dropped out of all my classes at Tokyo Denki. I then turned around and told everyone that I was transferring to another university. It was definitely a lie, but I had to cover up the time that I would be spending out of the country. This was mostly because of my parents. They wouldn't have liked to know that I was postponing my schooling to learn English. I would tell them when the time was right.

While I was here, I utilized all sorts of tricks I learned from the internet. But the most important thing I did was shut out all Japanese media. This meant no channel and no anime. I wondered how I was still alive. Jokes aside, the first month and a half actually was pretty hard on me. I came here to master my English, so I decided to go to the local park and try talking to people. It wasn't a total disaster, but I became awfully aware that I needed to hone my skills even more. I put money down for another round of English classes, though these ones were more targeted at immigrants. The instructor mostly communicated to us in simplified English in order to accommodate the diverse body of students from every corner of the world. On the bright side, this experience added to my English immersion. That was the whole point of this trip. In Japan, it's completely impossible to avoid the Japanese language. In Australia, it's completely possible. Everything was in English. I only ever saw Japanese text when I was at work or when I was reading emails from back home. I also spoke to Kurisu in Japanese, but that's only because she refused to talk to me in any other language. After over a week of trying to convince Kurisu to change her mind, I eventually gave up.

Speaking of Kurisu, it was time to call her again. I pulled out of cell phone and opened the Amadeus app. It was a pain in the butt to get this thing to work in Australia. I was talking about the telecommunications part of the phone of course, to my knowledge wifi was universal. I still wanted to be just a phone call away in case something happened, so I got an international SIM card. A bit pricey, but worth it.

I tapped Kurisu's name and the phone rang for a few seconds. Her grinning face then popped up on the tiny LCD screen. This was Kurisu's normal mood now, she rarely got angry or irritated anymore. Even when I was intentionally trying to get under her skin. It was honestly a bit surreal.

"Another rough day at the embassy?" She asked me, her eyebrows dropping in concern.

"Yeah." I weakly replied. "Three more days. I'm done work on Friday."

"Oh. Does that mean you're returning to Japan soon?"

"That's the plan. Still need to book those tickets though."

"Well, that's good timing. I think my doppelganger is going to depart America sometime within the next week."

"Really? I hope I make it home first." I told her. "Things could get difficult if she arrived at the lab and I wasn't in town yet."

"You do plan on telling her about this, right?" Kurisu pushed me. I took a quick breath in.

"Of course. Everyone will know in due time. I just don't want to be put on the spot, that's all."

"Fair enough. I would hate that too."

Kurisu seemed satisfied with my answer. She was happy again. Since I was leaving Australia this weekend, I thought it was a good time to bring up that cursed topic once more. I tried to be goofy about it.

"Mrs. Makise, will you teach me?" I said this in English, undoubtedly with a horrible accent. I hadn't spoken English in front of Kurisu since I first arrived in Australia three months ago. Sadly Kurisu's expression shifted, she was annoyed. I guess me speaking English was one of those things that still triggered her bad moods. Kurisu then proceeded to tell me off in Japanese.

"Okarin… it's Miss Makise, not Mrs. Makise. I'm not married."

To me, this was a huge blow to the face. I knew how sensitive this issue was in western culture, we were taught about it in class. I really should've used Miss just to be safe, but I totally forgot. Kurisu continued.

"I also don't see how much help I could be. I'm simply not a language teacher."

"I'm never going to find about that, am I?"

"Find out about what?" Kurisu asked me this with a confused glare. Like she didn't know.

"Clearly something happened to you in America that completely turned you off from teaching languages. That's what I'm talking about."

"Oh. That." Kurisu's eyes darkened. I only brought this up as a joke. I didn't mean to get her so sad. She took a deep breath and told me a shortened version.

"It was actually in Japan." Kurisu told me. "I flew over one summer and decided it could be beneficial for me to teach some English. Many Americans do this. Since I was bilingual basically from birth, I thought it would be easy. Needless to say, it wasn't. I was very naive for a fifteen-year-old."

"I see. Well, the great Hououin Kyouma does not need a teacher. He only requires a couch." I say this confidently before turning to Kurisu. "Are you up to the task, Christina?"

In response, Kurisu burst into laughter. I didn't get it. What was so funny?

"I… think I finally understand how to withstand a conversation with Hououin Kyouma." She said, with a light giggle. Kurisu then looked up at me. "Don't think too hard about what he says and play along when possible."

The "don't think too hard" part stung a bit, but I was glad she was happy. Even if all this was at my expense, I wanted to see Kurisu smile. Suddenly the haunting memories of my phone call from back in December crept in. I called the real life Kurisu after I found a charge on my credit card. I instantly thought of Christina since the charge was from some big Japanese department store. Our conversation went rather poorly. We yelled at each for a few minutes until I learned the truth and I backed down. It was more than just embarrassing. However, that wasn't the part that hurt. The real sore spot in my heart was that I felt like I was talking to an entirely different person. I realized that the Amadeus Kurisu that I was so used was much more forgiving than the Kurisu in real life. Their personalities really had split from each other. I realized that this much more grumpy version of Kurisu was the person I was meeting up with next week. I was stuck between two worlds. One part of me said that this is happening and there's nothing I can do about it. When I see the real Kurisu in Japan, our relationship will effectively be reset to what we had in September. We'll have to rebuild. This was all well and good, but another part of me said that this was unfair and there must be an alternate way to fix this. The problem was I had absolutely no idea what else I could do. It was a rough mental battle.

I soon pushed this internal debate aside and Kurisu agreed to try talking to me in English. It was tough and frustrating on both sides, but we somehow made it through. Kurisu helped me with pronunciation and grammar where she could. I'm pretty sure distinguishing the L and R sounds is one problem every English student in Japan has experienced. Words like right and light sounded exactly the same to me. I read up on this and apparently, neither sound is in the Japanese language. To make things worse, Japanese actually has a sound right between the two. This meant that Ruka's name could also be romanized with an L and still technically be phonetically correct. When I learned this I was curious about my own name and immediately checked my passport to see how Rintarou was spelled. Kurisu thought that my R sound was okay, but my L sound needed some work. I was thankful for the honest feedback. I felt that the Australians that I talked to were a tad too tolerant to my bad English. Kurisu also helped me with just general English weirdness that I needed someone to explain in Japanese in order for me to understand. However, overall I would say that she was impressed my new found English skills.

We finished the language discussion after about an hour, then we began the dating part of our phone call. This was always my favourite part of the day and I was genuinely sad that we would be pressing the reset button in a few days. Part of me wondered if it was possible for the memories of Amadeus Kurisu to be downloaded into the real Kurisu's body. The Time Leap Machine technology just like that. The blueprints for it are probably sitting around somewhere. Was it possible…? I soon realized that I was treading on some pretty thin ice here. This was a moral minefield. Would it be right to overwrite Kurisu's memories? Even if we backed up everything we were deleting, would that be going too far? I wanted to talk to Kurisu about this, but I hesitated. We were having a nice conversation about the future of the lab and I didn't want to ruin the mood. It was at about this time when an email notification went off.

"Oh? Another lengthy message from Mayuri?" Kurisu teased me. I shook my head.

"I don't think so. I already got an email from her today." I told Kurisu. "Let's see who it is."

I minimized the Amadeus app and had it continue working in the background. I opened my inbox and the email was someone a bit unexpected.

"It's from Maho." I commented.

"Really?" Kurisu said, sounding surprised. "I wonder what she has to say. Is it about me?"

I opened the email. It wasn't that long, so I decided to read it to Kurisu.

"Dear Okabe. I know this is a bit sudden, but I need you in America right now. This isn't life or death, but it's really important. I've transferred 115,000 yen into your bank account for airfare. You can pay me back later. Just grab your passport and hop on a plane. Kurisu's leaving the country tomorrow and I've come up with a way to fix your relationship. You both need to be over here though. Come as fast as you can. Sincerely Maho."

"I wonder what is this about?" Kurisu mumbled. "Did… did she finish the download function early?"

Download function… was what I thought it was? Could Amadeus really be downloaded back into the person? No. I shouldn't get too excited. This might be something else entirely. I shook these thoughts out of my head and quickly typed up a reply.

"Roger that. I'm on my way." I wrote this and pressed send. I then reopened the Amadeus app to say goodbye to Kurisu.

"I'm sorry. I need to start packing now. Can we pick this up later? On the plane perhaps?"

"Sure. It's like a fourteen-hour flight to Los Angeles from Sydney, anyway. You'll need some company."

"Th… thank you." I muttered in my ever shaky English. "Goodbye Kurisu."

"Goodbye Okarin."

At that point, we hung up and I immediately booked my flight. I then called a few people at work to inform them of what I was up to. The only thing left to do was start packing. Once I was done with that it was time for bed. I happily fell asleep with the thought that Kurisu and I will be reunited in under twenty-four hours.

******  
(Chapter Ten: Out Now!)


	10. Chapter 10: Kurisu

The Perfect Solution  
Steins;Gate  
Chapter Ten

2013.02.14 - 12:30 PM PST  
Thursday

I was at the airport again, this time with a lighter load than usual. A ton of my stuff was already in Japan, and everything else was in storage here in America. Last week I shipped four huge crates filled my belongings across the ocean. It was much cheaper to send things through the post when compared to the cost of checked baggage. All I had was my carry on this time. I went through security and got to the other side unscathed. Security had to be my least favourite part of any flight, regardless of the airport. It was a necessary evil though.

I passed by all the stores and restaurants in the terminal and I arrived at my gate about two hours early. I used this time to charge my cell phone, which had died the night before without me noticing. Soon the boarding lounge filled with passengers and they began letting people onto the plane about half an hour before we were supposed to leave the gate. However, I decided to board the plane last despite that fact I was in first class. I wanted my cell phone to continue charging and spending an extra thirty minutes in that over sized tin can wasn't really appealing.

That thirty minutes came and went. They announced the final boarding call over the PA system and I got up from my seat. Right at the moment, I stepped into the jet bridge, I heard a familiar voice calling out to me. At first, I thought I just imagined it and kept walking. I heard it again though and I turned around to see an impossible sight. Okabe was here in America. He was right here at the airport, running towards me.

"Kurisu! Kurisu, stop!" He yelled to me before getting his path blocked by airline employees. I ran over to explain the situation so Okabe didn't embarrass himself too badly.

"It's fine. He's my boyfriend. Could you give us a few minutes?"

The airline employees backed off and I dragged Okabe back into the boarding lounge. We needed to talk.

"Why are you here?" I asked him. I somehow managed to prevent myself from yelling. Okabe frowned at this.

"What? Are you not happy to see me?"

"N-no. It's just I was about to get on a plane to Japan. What the heck happened?"

"Oh. Maho emailed me yesterday. She told me to fly over there as soon as I could. I just got off a flight myself."

Maho? Why would she tell this idiot to hop on a plane on such short notice? Actually, no… Okabe's not an idiot. I need to to get that mindset out of my head. Let's try that again. Why would Maho tell Okabe to board a flight so quickly? Before I could get an answer, Okabe's phone went off.

As he put it from his pocket, I noticed it was a brand new smartphone. Maho probably gave it to Okabe so he could use the Amadeus app. His old phone simply didn't cut it in that regard. Okabe answered the call and brought his phone up to his ear.

"Yes, it's me. Don't worry, I managed to get to her before the plane left. Yeah, meet you at the university. El Psy Kongroo."

Okabe then hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. He then turned to me.

"You might want to tell those people that you're not boarding your flight today. Maho has other plans for us." Okabe paused. "You didn't check any bags, did you?"

"No. This is the one day I haven't. I sent a ton of my stuff to the lab, remember? I left a note on it and everything. Someone had to sign for it too."

"Oh… it's must've been Daru's work. I haven't been at the lab much lately. Too much… school work."

I sighed. Great. That man was in charge of four crates full of my belongings. I would much rather Okabe be there. At least he has limits to his pervertness. I just hope Mayuri is keeping Daru at bay. I had clothes in some of those bins.

At this point, I cancelled my flight and got a full refund since I was in first class. Okabe and I then went through border security. I had the fun time explaining that I haven't actually gone anywhere yet. I had a foreign passport as well, so this took a lot longer than it should have. We got out to the other end and arrived in the airport lobby. It was then when I made a casual remark to Okabe after checking the time on my phone.

"It's actually Valentine's Day, you know. I totally forgot."

Okabe froze upon me saying that. Before I could say anything more, the man took off and headed into one of the many shops lining every corner of the terminal. Okabe also dropped his passport and plane ticket as he ran. I quickly grabbed those so no one would step on them or steal them either. As I picked these things up, I noticed something weird about Okabe's ticket. He didn't fly with a Japanese airline like I expect him to, Okabe flew with Air USA.

I guess maybe that wasn't too bizarre, he did have to book a ticket rather quickly. All Japan Airways could've been sold out. However, things completely stopped making sense when I took a passing glance at Okabe's departure airport. It wasn't either of Tokyo's hubs, or even anywhere in Japan. Okabe apparently boarded his plane Sydney, Australia. What on earth was he doing down there? I then checked his passport and found an Australian diplomatic visa pasted onto the last page. What was he doing down there? I then looked up and saw Okabe slowly approaching me with his hands behind his back. He walked up and handed me a bunch of chocolates in a heart shaped box. The stereotypical Valentine's Day present. I accepted the gift with little fanfare and I gave Okabe his stuff back.

We proceeded to leave the airport and hop in a cab to head back to Victor Chondria. Maho apparently wanted us at the lab for some sort of experiment, but even Okabe was a bit fuzzy on the details. During the fifty minute drive, I couldn't stop thinking about what I saw in Okabe's passport. Why was he in Australia and why was he there on a diplomatic visa? I knew this really didn't concern me, but I really felt like I should know. I decided to ask Okabe once we had gotten out of the taxi. We were outside, on our way to the brain research building.

"Okabe, what were you doing in Australia?"

He clearly hasn't expected me to bring this up. Okabe froze again. However, he brushed this off and Hououin Kyouma took over.

"Muhaha. You looked through my passport, huh? Don't worry, Christina. I intentioned to tell you about this from the beginning." Okabe then pulled out his cell phone again and I received an email within seconds. I give him a confused glare and checked my inbox. It was from Okabe.

"What's this about? I'm right here." I didn't understand why he did this. Okabe then shuffled his feet nervously. He wasn't acting like Hououin anymore. He was acting… weird. With nothing else to go on, I opened the email. It was a rhyming poem, written in English.

There have been many things I've wanted to say, but I've always been afraid.  
I tremble now as I pray, that my words may have some weight.  
Thank you for all the aid you helped provide, both before and after you died.  
You've always challenged my childish views, and what you say is true.  
I don't know if you ever knew, there's a reason why I give off this bright hue.  
I love you, Makise Kurisu.

"I-I'm sorry. It… was too corny for even me to read outloud."

I looked up from my cell phone and right into Okabe's eyes. He just spoke to me in English… and it wasn't his usual English, far from it. It was actually kind of decent. My mind was left in a state of disarray, I didn't know what to do. Should I respond back to him in English as well? Yeah, I'll do that.

"It's fine. I understand." I say this, clearly a bit distressed. "The poem… it's… it's very nice. Thank you."

Amadeus Okabe was right. Maybe the real Okabe wasn't such a bad guy after all. I could learn to trust him too, just give it time.

"You… really mean that?" Okabe looked almost shocked when I gave him my kind words. "Are you sick or something, Kurisu?"

"Yes, of course I meant it." I sighed. Okabe only seemed to ever call me by my real name when he absolutely had to. Only when the situation demanded it.

We continued into the university and Okabe started telling me about his adventures learning English in Australia and how he did this because wanted to live in America as well. Okabe wanted us to date properly, a long distance relationship rarely ever works. I told Okabe that getting a visa should be no problem if an American university can accept him. It was settled. I would go back to Japan with Okabe until September when I should get my job back thanks to some strings being pulled behind the scenes. Okabe should also get a foreign exchange by then, we would come back to America together. I just hope he didn't hurt reputation too badly with that sudden dropout.

On a less serious note, Okabe also told me all sorts of stories including his experience working at the embassy and early interactions with the Australian people. Haha. Okabe sure knows how to make a fool of himself, even when he tries to be competent. Still, I was amazed that Okabe went through all that just for me.

Before I knew it, we arrived at the door to the lab. I instinctively reached into my wallet to grab my keycard, but then remembered that I didn't have it anymore. I quit my job back in December. We had to knock and Maho let us in. We all took a seat at one of the work tables.

"Hi, Okabe. Hi, Kurisu. Let's get straight to business, shall we?"

Okabe and I both noded. Maho hadn't told either of us exactly what she was planning. Maho wasn't a joker though. This had to be important.

"I've called both you here today because I just finished the download function for Amadeus."

"What?!" I couldn't help but shriek in surprise. Maho set late April as a reasonable completion date not even three weeks ago. I then noticed the redness in her eyes. Maho looked horrible. How many all nighters did she pull to finish this thing?

"Is… is this download function what I think it is?" Okabe asked us. He didn't look that surprised about this. Did my Amadeus double mention it to him?

"Pretty much the name says it all." Maho told him. "We can now download the Amadeus memories back into the person. It's actually pretty neat."

"Thank you, senpai. But I'm not sure this is what I want anymore." I told Maho, looking right into her eyes. "Amadeus Okabe is so different, you would effectively be erasing the original Okabe. I don't want that." Maho surprisingly shook her head.

"Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of creating two new people."

"Huh?!" Both Okabe and I were confused. What did Maho mean by that? We got our answer soon enough.

"Let me rephrase that." Maho said with a sigh. "I want to mix your current memories with the memories stored in Amadeus. Basically you're both going to go through the upload process again, that data will be merged with Amadeus, and then I'll download the updated Amadeus memories back into your heads. Does that sound reasonable?"

Okabe and I both looked at each other. I liked the idea, but was this all safe? I'm sure Maho did all the necessary tests, but we're surely the first human guinea pigs.

"Haha. I say let's go through with it, Christina. It doesn't sound that dangerous if you ask me." Okabe pushed me a bit. Maho then spoke up.

"Yeah. I'm even going to backup your current memories after the upload. If something goes wrong or it's too overwhelming, we'll be able to change you back."

"Okay." I gave in. "Why the hack not? When do we start?"

"Right now. Follow me."

Maho then led us to another lab with two beds, each with a headpiece to upload and download memories. Okabe and I both laid down on the beds. I was going to ask why we were both doing this at the same time, but I realized it was probably intended so neither of us could just chicken out by ourselves. We both had to commit to this. The upload part wasn't that scary though, Okabe and I had gone through that before. It was the download part that made us nervous. Maho noted this and even offered us sleeping gas, which we both accepted. A few seconds exposed to that gas, and I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up about forty minutes later. I held my head in pain as got out of bed and stood up. I remembered everything that went through the eyes of Amadeus Kurisu over the past six months. The initial meeting with Okabe, the date at Tokyo Tower, the flight to and from Australia. When I said everything, I really meant everything. It really worked. I then looked over at Okabe. He was just recovering from the sleeping gas himself and returned my gaze, looking disoriented.

"Did it work for you too?" Okabe asked me. My face lit up.

"Yes, it worked perfectly." I told him. In a fraction of a second, Okabe ran over and hugged me. It was unexpected to say the least. Maho was watching us from across the room with her cocky little smile. Okabe then looked at me in the eyes.

"I'm so glad… all that time with Amadeus wasn't a waste." He said to me. Okabe then broke the hug before asking a question that made my day. "Kurisu… do… do you want to go to a movie with me tonight? I'll cover everything."

"That sounds wonderful." I said as I looked up at him. I smiled. "As long as I don't have to call you Okarin."

~The End~

******  
Author's Note:

That's a rap. I would love for you leave a review with your thoughts if you haven't already. Now that I've finished this, I'll try to revive one of my other stories that I've put on hold over the past six months or so. Also I've actually had that poem finished since February. It's actually the reason I started writing this story. Funny how it's expanded to be much more than that. Anyway, thanks for reading this to the end and have a good day.

-SGxElPsyKongroo-0-PWxObjection


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